Inducting new development team members

[CaptainChainsaw]

Hi all,

 

I'm interested in knowing your opinions on how new members of a development team should be welcomed.  I've worked in places that have their own in house products and there is more emphasis on getting it working and getting it delivered than there is on ensuring the work is of a particular quality.  New or more junior members of staff are pretty much left to themselves to learn the product themselves and try and figure out how things work as documentation has been slim and other development members don't appear to have the time to help them.

 

In your opinion should a new developer just be given basic information like usernames and passwords for servers so they can access scripts etc or should they be shown the product they will be working on in great depth so that they can understand how it works and what it's meant to do?

 

What should the role of more senior members of the development team be regarding new or junior team members?

 

 

Thank you,

 

CC  

[waynew]

Give it to them in-depth. There's nothing worse than working on a project that you don't know what the overall goal is. Plus, you could save yourself costs as mistakes are more thank likely to happen if they don't see the whole picture. Passwords to servers etc is risky business, unless you have a plan in place to change them quickly without hampering productivity should this Junior member end up thinking the job isn't for him/her.

[CaptainChainsaw]

I totally agree with you.  What would be your opinion of a developer that said "just look at the code" or "it's in the code" when trying to understand what a particular script or part of an application does?

 

 

Thank you,

 

CC

[ardyandkari]

i think that developer is a jerk...

 

i understand that it is possible to figure out things from looking at the code, but that would take more time (billable time perhaps???) to say that and have the new employee look at the code than just say, "Oh, that makes rabid weasels run across the screen...Cool HUH?"

 

if a question is asked to a senior member and not given a real answer...that senior member should (if nothing else) be reprimanded if not demoted/fired.  the reason that companies keep experienced members around is so that new people can learn from them...otherwise they could just get rid of all the better paid employees and hire newbies from college for $10 an hour or something.

 

sorry if i sound harsh, but i have gotten the poopy end of the stick on this issue at a few jobs and it sucks.  also, from a purely business standpoint it doesn't make sense.

 

(of course, if the person is asking what an echo() statement does or something basic, i might wonder about how they got into the room with all the bright shiny computer bits)

[waynew]

I totally agree with you.  What would be your opinion of a developer that said "just look at the code" or "it's in the code" when trying to understand what a particular script or part of an application does?

 

 

Thank you,

 

CC

 

Just last week, I finished working for a company who gave me work experience but then started to f*** me over by giving me three-day late payments. I'm still in college, trying my best to learn the trade. Although the work experience gave me a lot of insight into how a development team works (and I am thankful for that); I was often told (yes told) to do things that I had no experience in at all. This included big complex projects and a custom in-house template system that added an extra layer of abstraction. Whenever I needed help, or needed some advice on something; I was simply sent to Google. That was it. Bearing in mind now that I was given deadlines that shocked me so much sometimes that I didn't know what to say. A senior developer SHOULD always help train others in. Otherwise his seniority isn't worth that much, is it?

[.josh]

Agreed.  Every job should have a training program, no matter what products/services they offer.  When I was a manager at Hardees, I didn't just throw people on the line and tell them to have at it.  Even if they were the badass at McD's or some other burger joint.  They could have been the fastest grill slinger in the west, but that just means they'll probably pick it up quick, not be psychic. 

 

On the other hand, you'd be surprised how many times I've had to teach new employees how to sweep and mop the floor... so on that note, I think that in any given field, there are some things that should go without saying... Like for instance, I may need to teach Joe what goes on our burger and what order, but because he has fastfood experience, I shouldn't have to tell him pickles should be placed evenly on the bun, or to keep your workstation clean, or wrap the burger neatly.  Or wear gloves.  Etc...

 

I've worked other jobs from sales to dispatching to accounting to tech support, and it's the same principle.  If a company fails to make sure the newbie learns the ropes, then they are only hurting themselves.  If a senior developer or manager fails to do carry out training, then not only does he fail at being in charge, but chances are, he's probably trying to sabotage the company.  He probably feels that the more he teaches someone else to do the job, the less secure his own position is.  The sad truth is, it's probably true.  But that don't make it right to do that.

[tibberous]

I guess it would depend a lot on what their doing. If you could give them something defined to work on, like:

 

Make a function that takes in text, strips out all the tags but bold, an returns the length.

 

Then they don't really need to know how everything else works. I'd try to find chunks like that, not small enough to be considered busy work, but small enough that your not overwhelming somone who might already be nervous to be there.